I wrote a public comment to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Wheeler re the Open Internet Proposed Rules in honor of Internet Slowdown Day. The public is invited to offer their comments on the FCC site:
Dear Chairman Wheeler:
I write to you as a concerned citizen and as an attorney representing startup companies and other innovators who use the Internet to interact with, and succeed in, the marketplace.
I am sure that many other comments have expressed that an open Internet provides the foundation for past, current, and future innovation by lowering the barriers to entry for market participants. Such innovation has benefited society tremendously.
I work with a number of such companies. Not all of them are technology companies – some are designers, some are writers, and some are artists. In all cases, access to a wide range of Internet services has allowed these companies to take advantage of opportunities that would otherwise only be available to larger and more well-funded players. Their success or failure depends upon the merits of their offerings, and not their ability to secure favorable deals with infrastructure providers.
Pay for play Internet has no place in our society and runs counter to our national principles of free and open communication and would represent a break from the Federal Communication Commission’s own traditions of telecommunications regulation.
As such, the FCC should exercise its regulatory power and classify Internet service as a common carrier service pursuant to the authority granted the agency in 47 USC 151. Such a classification would follow prior FCC tradition of classifying cable carriers and telephone systems as common carriers.
